Systems and Methods for Integrating Microservers with a Network Interface Device

ABSTRACT

A network interface device has an isolation device adapted to isolate a transport medium internal to a customer premises from a transport medium external to the customer premises such that operational changes to one of the internal and external transport media do not affect the other of the internal and external transport media. A first interface is coupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with the external transport medium, which is in communication with a distribution point. A second interface is coupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with the internal transport medium. A microserver is disposed external to the customer premises and coupled with the first and second interfaces. The microserver is adapted to receive telecommunication information from the external transport medium and includes software for implementing a predetermined function over the internal transport medium by processing the received telecommunication information.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/367,597, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDINGTELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES VIA A NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE,” filed Feb.14, 2003 by Steven M. Casey et al. (“the '597 application”), the entiredisclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference for allpurposes. The '597 application is a continuation-in-part application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/356,364, entitled “PACKET NETWORKINTERFACE DEVICE AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ITS USE,” filed Jan. 31,2003 by Bruce A. Phillips et al.; is a continuation-in-part applicationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/356,688, entitled “SYSTEMS,METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PLURALITY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONSERVICES,” filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Bruce A. Phillips et al.; and is acontinuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/356,338, entitled “CONFIGURABLE NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE AND SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR ITS USE,” filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Bruce A. Phillips etal., the entire disclosure of each of which is herein incorporated byreference for all purposes.

This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/444,941, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPROVIDING TELEVISION SIGNALS USING A NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE,” filedMay 22, 2003 by Bruce A. Phillips et al., which is acontinuation-in-part of the '597 application and which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

This application is also related to the following applications, theentire disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by referencefor all purposes: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,283, filedFeb. 27, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,290, filed Feb.27, 2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,282, filed Feb. 27,2003; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,281, filed Feb. 27, 2003;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,584, filed Feb. 27, 2003; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/377,280, filed Feb. 27, 2003; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/391,518, filed Mar. 17, 2003; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/448,249, filed Mar. 29, 2003; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/445,275, filed May 23, 20003; and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, filed Jun. 30, 2003 (Attorney Docket No.20366-091600US).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the past, there has been a lack of consistent interface betweentelecommunication service providers' networks and their customers'premises wiring. For instance, telephone service often has beenhard-wired to the customer's premises wiring by a variety of methods,rendering service calls unnecessarily complicated and intrusive. Suchservices calls often required service personnel to enter the customerpremises, creating logistical issues for the telecommunication serviceprovider and increasing customer frustration. Moreover, the lack of anydiscrete interface between the customer's premises wiring and theprovider's network sometimes forced the use of proprietary hardware fromthe customer's perspective and limited the provider's flexibility whenconsidering options to upgrade or otherwise modify the network.

This problem has been exacerbated by the increased number oftelecommunication services provided to customer premises. For instance,many telecommunication service providers now provide xDSL service totheir customers, but those skilled in the art will recognize that thereis little (if any) standardization among providers. Thus,implementations vary widely, each requiring different hardware andsoftware configurations to be operable, and customers have littleflexibility in choosing hardware. For instance, ADSL service frequentlyis deployed differently than VDSL service, and ADSL deploymentsthemselves can vary from provider to provider. Likewise, telephonewiring schemes can vary widely among customer premises, requiringdifferent types of hardware to enable and enhance services, such asfilters to control interference, and the like. Further, a typicalcustomer premises has multiple wiring networks, including one for videodistribution (cable, satellite, VDSL, and the like), one for datadistribution (Ethernet or the like, perhaps with a connection to an xDSLmodem or cable modem), and another for telephone service, and thesenetworks generally operate independently of one another. And if acustomer wants to add a new telecommunication service, an expensiveservice call (often including one or more new cable drops and/or theinstallation of new premises wiring) likely will be required.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods and systems toaddress these and other problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention thus provide methods and systems forproviding telecommunication information to a transport medium internalto a customer premises. In one set of embodiments, a network interfacedevice is provided. The network interface device comprises an isolationdevice adapted to isolate the internal transport medium from a transportmedium external to the customer premises such that operational changesto one of the internal and external transport media do not affect theother of the internal and external transport media. A first interface iscoupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with theexternal transport medium, which is in communication with a distributionpoint. A second interface is coupled with the isolation device andadapted to communicate with the internal transport medium. A microserveris disposed external to the customer premises and coupled with the firstand second interfaces. The microserver is adapted to receivetelecommunication information from the external transport medium andincludes software for implementing a predetermined function over theinternal transport medium by processing the received telecommunicationinformation.

In some such embodiments, the isolation device and microserver may bedisposed within a common housing, which may be disposed on an exteriorwall of the customer premises. In addition, the network interface devicemay comprise an addressable application device coupled with themicroserver that is adapted to receive the processed telecommunicationinformation and to execute a defined application as an aid toimplementing the predetermined function over the internal transportmedium. The addressable application device may be disposed external tothe customer premises and may be disposed within a common housing withthe isolation device and microserver.

A variety of different microservers may be used in differentembodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the microserver maycomprise an authentication microserver adapted to verify that thepredetermined function is authorized for the customer premises. Inanother embodiment, the microserver comprises a file-transfermicroserver adapted to transfer an electronic file of information to orfrom the network interface device. In a further embodiment, themicroserver comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol microserveradapted to manage an internet-protocol address assignment to a devicecoupled with the internal transport medium; the internet-protocoladdress assignment may comprise a private internet-protocol addressassignment or may comprise a public internet-protocol addressassignment. In another embodiment, the microserver comprises acode-processing microserver adapted to receive code and process the codefor use by another component of the network interface device; inaddition, the microserver may further comprise a webserver microserveradapted to render a display of incoming web-page information suitablefor presentation with a web-browser enabled device. In some instances,the microserver may comprise an email alert microserver adapted toinitiate an alert in response to receipt of an email message at an emailaccount. The microserver may alternatively comprise an instant-messengermicroserver adapted to provide instant-messaging functionality over theinternal transport medium. In one embodiment, the microserver comprisesa webserver microserver and an advertising microserver. The webservermicroserver is adapted to render a display of web-page informationsuitable for presentation with a web-browser enabled device and anadvertising microserver adapted to overlay an advertisement over thedisplay of web-page information. The microserver may comprise a wirelessmicroserver adapted to provide an interface between wirelesscommunications within the customer premises to the external transportmedium. In another embodiment the microserver comprises an RFpower-level microserver adapted to monitor an RF power level oftelecommunication information received at the first interface. In afurther embodiment, the microserver comprises a test-access microserveradapted to verify proper functioning of another component of the networkinterface device. In still another embodiment, the network interfacedevice further comprises a webserver microserver coupled with themicroserver and adapted to provide a customer-based graphical userinterface for implementing software configuration changes of themicroserver.

In a second set of embodiments, a method provides telecommunicationinformation to a transport medium internal to a customer premises. Theinternal transport medium is isolated from a transport medium externalto the customer premises such that operational changes to one of theinternal and external transport media do not affect the other of theinternal and external transport media. The telecommunication informationis received from the external transport medium and is selectivelyprocessed with a microserver disposed external to the customer premises.Thereafter, a predetermined function is implemented over the internaltransport medium with the processed telecommunication information.

In some instances, the method may further comprise transmitting theprocessed telecommunication information to an addressable applicationdisposed external to the customer premises. The predetermined functionmay then be implemented by implementing an application over the internaltransport medium with the addressable application device.

There are a variety of ways in which the received telecommunicationinformation may be selectively processed in different embodiments. Forexample, in one embodiment it is verified that the predeterminedfunction is authorized for the customer premises. In another embodiment,an electronic file of information is transferred. In a furtherembodiment, an internet-protocol address assignment to a device coupledwith the internal transport medium is managed. In a differentembodiment, code is received and processed for use in implementing thepredetermined function; in some such instances, a display of incomingweb-page information is rendered to be suitable for presentation with aweb-browser enabled device. In some cases, an alert is initiated inresponse to receipt of an email message at an email account. In othercases, instant-messaging functionality is provided over the internaltransport medium. In a particular embodiment, a display of web-pageinformation is rendered suitable for presentation with a web-browserenabled device and an advertisement is overlaid over the display. Inanother embodiment, an interface between wireless communications withinthe customer premises to the external transport medium is provided. In afurther embodiment, an RF power level of the telecommunicationinformation received from the external transport medium is monitored. Instill another embodiment, a customer-based graphical user interface isprovided for implementing configuration changes of software governinghow the received telecommunication information is selectively processed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a capital-letter sublabel is associated with a referencenumeral and follows a hyphen to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sublabel, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIGS. 1A-1G provide schematic illustrations of configurations fornetwork interface devices used in embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 2A-2D provide schematic illustrations of structures of networkinterface systems according to embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 3A-3K provide illustrations of various microserver arrangementsthat may be used by a network interface system to provide a variety oftelecommunications services to a customer premises according toembodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating methods of providingtelecommunication information according to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 1. Introduction

Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and systems forproviding telecommunications services by integrating one or moremicroservers with a network interface device. As used herein, a“microserver” is intended to refer to any device that uses a combinationof software and hardware to meet a predefined need. For example, amicroserver may be programmed to perform a specified limited set offunctions and may take a structural form such as an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EPROM”) device, electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”) device, programmable logicdevice (“PLD”), erasable programmable logic device (“EPLD”), complexprogrammable logic device (“CPLD”), field-programmable gate array(“FPGA”), and the like. The scope of telecommunications services thatmay be provided is broad, and several specific examples of services thatmay be provided by integrating one or more microservers with a networkinterface device are discussed in greater detail below.

In embodiments of the invention, the telecommunications services maybeprovided through the use of a network interface system that is capableof interfacing between a customer premises and a telecommunicationservice provider's network. In some instances such an interfacingcapability is performed by elements of a “demarcation device,” andspecific examples of how the demarcation capabilities arise in differentembodiments of the network interface systems are discussed below. Merelyby way of illustration, such demarcation capabilities may derive fromelements comprised by the following examples of demarcation devices: aset-top box, which may be used inter alia as an interface between acustomer's video appliance and a provider's video network; broadbandmodems, including xDSL modems, cable modems, and wireless modems, eachof which may be used to provide video and/or data to a customerpremises; integrated access devices, which may, for example, translatebetween Voice over LP (“VoIP”) signals and traditional telephonesignals, allowing traditional telephones to connect to a VoIP network;devices compatible with the session initiation protocol (“SIP”); and thelike. One particular demarcation device whose elements may be used toprovide demarcation capabilities includes a network interface device(“NID”), described in detail below. In some instances, a demarcationdevice may additionally include other capabilities, including, forexample, the capability to separate received telecommunicationinformation into discrete sets; the capability to process certain of theseparated sets independently from other sets; and/or the capability totransmit different of the separated sets to different locations, perhapsthrough the use of different interfaces. Integration of one or moremicroservers with the NID has significant advantages when compared withsolutions in which microservers are separate from the NID. For instance,separate microservers may require access to a customer premises forservices and may be moved around and removed from the customer premises.By integrating the microservers with the NID, they are easily accessibleby a technician and may be integrated in a secure fashion as describedbelow that makes them nonremovable by others.

In describing embodiments of the invention, references to “customerpremises” are intended to refer to physical structures under the controlof a customer through ownership, leasehold, or any other property right.The term is not intended to encompass open real property external to thephysical structures, even if such open real property is also under thecontrol of the customer. Such a definition reflects differences inaccessibility to the physical structures and surrounding open realproperty. Access to the physical structures generally requires thepresence of the customer or a representative of the customer, whileaccess to the surrounding open real property may be obtained bypermission from customer, through an easement, or by other means thatdoes not require the physical presence of the customer. Thus, forexample, in the case of a residential customer, the customer premisesmay correspond to the customer's home, but does not include the yardsurrounding the home. Access to the yard may be obtained even when thecustomer is not home, such as when the customer is at work, is shopping,or is otherwise unavailable to be physically present.

As used herein, the term “telecommunication information” is broadlydefined to include any information that can be transmitted or carried bya telecommunication service provider's network (e.g., the PublicSwitched Telephone Network or “PSTN”) or by any other telecommunicationnetwork, including but not limited to the Internet. Such informationincludes, for example, voice signals (e.g., Plain Old Telephone Serviceor “POTS,” as the term is known to those skilled in the art), audio andvideo signals (encoded in any standard and/or proprietary, digitaland/or analog format now known or hereafter developed, using any of avariety of means known to those skilled in the art, such as HDTV, NTSC,PAL, and SECAM formatting, as well as, for example any of the MPEGdigital encoding and/or compression algorithms), and data. Such data canbe formatted according any of a variety of protocols familiar in theart, including in particular the Internet Protocol.

In this application, the term “telecommunication service provider”refers to any entity that provides telecommunication service to acustomer's premises, including, merely by way of example, incumbentlocal exchange carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, cabletelevision carriers, and satellite providers, to name a few. Incontrast, the term “telecommunication information provider,” means anyentity that is capable of serving as a source of telecommunicationinformation. In many cases, a particular entity may be considered both atelecommunication service provider and a telecommunication informationprovider, for instance, when a local exchange carrier provides Internetservice to a customer, as well as the external transport medium attachedto that customer's premises. In other cases, the two may be separateentities. For instance, according to certain embodiments of theinvention, a cable television provider could contract with a localexchange carrier to provide broadcast television signals to a customerpremises using the local exchange carrier's network and/or an externaltransport medium operated by the local exchange carrier.

The term “telecommunication information set” is intended to describe adiscrete subset of the telecommunication information transmitted acrossa particular transport medium and/or received by a device havingdemarcation capabilities. Generally, the telecommunication informationthat is classified part of a particular information set shares a commoncharacteristic. Merely by way of example, an information set cancomprise telecommunication information of a particular type, such asvoice, IP data, encoded video, and such; information associated with aparticular application, such as information assigned to a specific IPport, as is known in the art; information addressed to or received froma particular device or network segment; information received within aparticular reception window; and the like.

In certain embodiments, demarcation capabilities can support the one-wayflow of telecommunication information, such as exemplified by the caseof a simple set top box, which can receive data representing a videosignal, decode that data, and transmit a video signal to an attachedtelevision. In other embodiments, demarcation capabilities can supportbidirectional flow of telecommunication information. One such example isan xDSL modem, which allows the transmission of data both to and from acustomer premises. In still other embodiments, the demarcationcapability can support both unidirectional and bidirectional informationflows simultaneously, depending on the type of telecommunicationinformation transmitted or the source of the information.

The demarcation capabilities may also function to isolate thetelecommunication service provider's network from the network at thecustomer premises. As described in detail below, the service provider'snetwork is one example of an “external transport medium” and thecustomer's network is one example of an “internal transport medium.” Theexternal transport medium and internal transport Medium are eachexamples of a “transport medium,” which is used herein to describe anycable, wire, or other medium capable of carrying telecommunicationinformation, including, but not limited to, twisted pair copper wiring(shielded or unshielded, including, for example, unshielded cablescomplying with industry-standard categories 3, 5, 5e and 6), opticalfiber, and coaxial cable. Other examples of transport media includeuniversal serial bus (“USB”) cable, cable complying with the Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (“IEEE”) 1394 standard, as wellas any medium capable of complying with the many local-area networkingstandards known in the art. The preceding are examples of transportmedia that comprise physical media, but the invention is not limited tothe use of physical media. In other embodiments, a transport medium maycomprise any of a wide variety of wireless transmissions, includinginfra-red transmissions, radio frequency (“RF”) transmissions, andtransmissions complying with standards developed by any of the IEEE'sworking groups governing wireless communication (e.g., the 802.11,802.15, 802.16 and 802.20 working groups), as well as point-to-pointmicrowave, satellite, cellular/PCS, and/or ultra wideband transmissions,among others.

In certain embodiments, demarcation capabilities can define an activedemarcation point, serving to isolate the external transport medium fromthe internal transport medium (perhaps via an isolation device,discussed below), such that operational changes in one network do notaffect the other network. “Operational changes” can include any changesin the structure, topology, format, protocol, bandwidth, media, and/orother operational parameters of a network. This isolation feature canprovide many benefits; for instance, the demarcation capability can berealized by a disclosed interface between a customer premises and aprovider's network, allowing the provider to implement changes in itsnetwork without disrupting the service provided to the customer.

Likewise, the isolation of the internal transport medium from theexternal transport medium can allow for any variety of customer premisesequipment (“CPE”) to be used at the customer premises without fear thatthe equipment might be incompatible with a particular telecommunicationservice provider's standards. “Customer premises equipment” and “CPE”are intended to refer to any device that sends, receives, or otherwiseutilizes telecommunication information. Moreover, the demarcationcapabilities might serve to couple a plurality of external and/orinternal transport media, allowing interoperation among them all, and toprovide the same isolation features among all of these media.

In this way, certain aspects of the demarcation capabilities can allowfor sales of a wide variety of CPE on a consumer electronics model,instead of the proprietary model necessitated by many of today'stelecommunication networks, where, for example, differingimplementations of xDSL among providers virtually force consumers topurchase modems from the providers to ensure compatibility between themodem and the provider's xDSL implementation. By isolating thetopologies of the external and internal transport media, embodiments ofthe present invention can create a disclosed interface between theprovider's network and the customer's network, allowing much greaterflexibility in both the provider's networking options and the customer'schoice of telecommunication appliances. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that these and many other benefits result from embodiments ofthe invention.

In accordance with other embodiments, the isolation abilities also allowinsulation between different transport media coupled to the internal andexternal transport media in order. This may permit, for example,preventing unwanted telecommunication information of one network fromentering the other network. For instance, a demarcation capability of anetwork interface system in accordance with particular embodiments canserve to prevent propagation of certain telecommunication informationfrom an internal network (including particular signals or frequencies)into one or more external transport media, preventing interference inthe internal transport medium from interfering with thetelecommunication service provider's network. In similar fashion,demarcation capabilities can prevent the contamination of the internaltransport medium with unwanted information from the external medium,interference between two or more external transport media coupled, andunwanted interference or crosstalk between multiple internal media.

In some embodiments, the isolation of the internal transport medium fromthe external transport medium resulting from the demarcationcapabilities also allows enhanced security to be provided for thecustomer and/or to control customer access to certain features orservices. For instance, those skilled in the art will recognize thatdemarcation capabilities can prevent unauthorized access to thecustomer's data network, such as by a telecommunication service providerand/or a third party, or can screen or filter telecommunicationinformation entering or leaving the customer's premises. This enablesfeatures such as parental controls to be placed on incoming and outgoinginformation, as well as filtering of outgoing sensitive information,such as credit card information and the like.

Further, according to certain embodiments, the demarcation capabilitiesmay be used to define a consolidation point for all telecommunicationinformation entering or leaving the customer premises. Definition ofsuch a consolidation point permits a variety of enhanced features to beprovided to the entire premises, including features such as calleridentification, premises-wide telephone, video and data distribution,content on demand, including video, audio, and/or data on demand, andthe like. These and other features resulting from demarcationcapabilities also allow for a variety of new and usefultelecommunication applications to be provided to customers. Specificdetails of some exemplary applications are discussed below; given thedisclosure herein, those skilled in the art can appreciate the widevariety of such applications that are possible using various embodimentsof the invention.

In a number of embodiments, the demarcation capability is appliedspecifically to a customer premises, thereby separating a transportmedium internal to the customer premises from a transport mediumexternal to the customer premises. Moreover, the demarcation isexploited to provide one or more microservers in a configuration thatpermits services to be provided in accordance with the programming ofthe microservers to the entire premises. In addition, in some instancesone or more addressable application devices may also be provided such asdescribed in the '597 application, with the microservers programmed tointeract in combination with the application devices to provide thespecified services. For example, the addressable application devices maybe adapted to interface with the transport medium internal to thecustomer premises, and the microservers may be adapted to selectivelyprocess telecommunication information originating from the transportmedium external to the customer premises. Applications may beimplemented through transmission of the processed telecommunicationinformation from the processors to the addressable application devices.

2. Organizational Configurations

There are numerous organizational configurations for the NID that may beused in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Several examplesare shown schematically in FIGS. 1A-1G, although such examples are notintended to be exhaustive. A relatively simple arrangement is shown inFIG. 1A, which includes a distribution point 104 in communication with adevice 108 having demarcation capabilities via an external transportmedium 112. In this example, the external transport medium 112 comprisesa transport medium external to a customer premises 116. The device 108is adapted to interface with an internal transport medium 124. In thisexample, the internal transport medium 124 comprises a transport mediuminternal to the customer premises 116.

In one sense, the distribution point 104 may be considered to be asource of telecommunication information transmitted to the customerpremises and a recipient of telecommunication information transmittedfrom the customer premises; as described below, however, thedistribution point 104 need not be either the ultimate source nor theultimate recipient of telecommunication information. In certainembodiments, the distribution point 104 may correspond to atelecommunication service provider's local office. In other embodiments,the distribution point may correspond to another network element in theservice provider's network, such as a remote termination cabinet and/ora digital subscriber line access multiplier (“DSLAM”). More generally,the distribution point 104 may correspond to any facility operated by atelecommunication service provider that is capable of transmittingtelecommunication information to, and/or receiving telecommunicationinformation from, a customer premises 116.

In general, distribution points can be classified, inter alia, asdiscrete distribution points or complex distribution points. Withrespect to a particular information set, a discrete distribution pointoften transmits only the necessary or desired information to the NID. Incontrast, a complex distribution point can transmit the entireinformation set to the NID. The contrast may be illustrated with regardto video distribution: A discrete distribution point may perform channelswitching (at the request of the demarcation device 108), encoding andsending only the desired channel information to the demarcation device108. In contrast, a complex distribution point might rely upon thedemarcation device 108 to perform all channel switching. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that each scheme presents relative advantagesand disadvantages.

Distribution point 104 can be capable of transmitting and/or receivingany type of telecommunication information to/from the NID, and suchtelecommunication information can be organized into a plurality oftelecommunication information sets, as necessary. For ease ofdescription, FIG. 1A does not show any additional sources or recipientsof telecommunication information in communication with distributionpoint 104, but, those skilled in the art will recognize that, in manyembodiments, distribution point 104 can be coupled to multiple customerpremises 116 (perhaps via a NID at each customer premises) and often isneither the ultimate source nor the ultimate recipient oftelecommunication information. Instead, distribution point 104 usuallyserves as an intermediary between one or more customer premises 116 andone or more larger telecommunication networks and/or telecommunicationinformation providers, which, as discussed above, can include cabletelevision networks, telephone networks, data networks, and the like.Further, many such networks (as well as, in some embodiments,distribution point 104) can be coupled to the Internet, so thatdistribution point 104 can serve as a gateway between customer premises116 and any source and/or recipient of telecommunication informationthat has a connection to the Internet. The interconnection oftelecommunication networks is well known in the art, although it isspecifically noted that distribution point 104 can be configured totransmit telecommunication information to (and receive telecommunicationinformation from) virtually any source or recipient of telecommunicationinformation, through either direct or indirect (e.g., through theInternet) communication. Merely by way of example, a distribution point104 can transmit video signals received from a television programmingprovider to customer premises equipment, as described in theapplications referenced above. In other embodiments, distribution point104 can be in communication with one or more other customer locations,allowing for private virtual circuits, vlan tags and wavelengths, or rfconnections between customer premises 116 and those locations.

In configuration 100, the NID can serve as the interface betweenexternal transport medium 112 and customer premises 116. As shown inFIG. 1A, usually the demarcation device 108 comprised by the NID isinterfaced with both the internal transport medium 124 and with theexternal transport medium 112. As conceptually illustrated in FIG. 1A,demarcation device 108 may be attached to an external wall of thecustomer premises 116. Such a configuration provides many advantages.For instance, if the telecommunication service provider desires toupgrade or otherwise change its network, including, perhaps, externaltransport medium 112, a technician can perform any necessary changes atdemarcation device 108 as appropriate without entering the customerpremises. Coupled with the ability of some demarcation devices 108 toisolate the telecommunication service provider's network from thecustomer's premises, this can allow the telecommunication serviceprovider to effect substantial changes in it network without impactingor inconveniencing the customer in any respect. This could, for example,allow the telecommunication service provider to upgrade externaltransmission medium 112 from a copper twisted pair to optical fiber,without requiring any topological changes inside the customer premises116. Of course, demarcation device 108 may be located at a variety ofalternative locations, either within customer premises 116 or at afacility operated by the telecommunication service provider. Inaddition, as previously noted and as discussed in further detail below,a NID may also be divided, with different portions situated at differentlocations, according to the requirements of the implementation.

The NID is configured so that it may communicate with CPE 120, which maybe located interior to the customer premises through internal transportmedium 124. Such communication is used to implement functionalitydefined by microservers comprised by NID over the CPE 120 in accordancewith telecommunication information received from the distribution point104. In addition, the demarcation device 108 may communicate directlywith CPE 120 to implement other functions. While the internal transportmedium 124 may comprise any of the media discussed above, in oneembodiment it comprises existing telephone wiring in customer premises116 and, in some embodiments, is capable of carrying voice, data andvideo information. For instance, as described in Edward H. Frank andJack Holloway, “Connecting the Home with a Phone Line Network Chip Set,”IEEE Micro (IEEE, March-April 2000), which is incorporated herein byreference, the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (“HPNA”) standardsallow for simultaneous transmission of both voice information andEthernet frames across twisted-pair copper telephone wiring. In additionto the transmission of telecommunication information through the NID,telecommunication information may be transmitted via the reverse path tothe distribution point 104. Such telecommunication information receivedat the distribution point 104 may be transmitted to an informationrecipient, such as a service provider. For example, such a transmissionmay be used to request a pay-per-view movie or the like. Alternatively,telecommunication information received at the distribution point 104 maybe transmitted across the Internet, such as may be used in the case ofsending an email message.

In certain embodiments, the NID can receive state information from acontrol point 128, which is shown in the illustrated embodiment asassociated with distribution point 104. In certain instances, controlpoint 128 can be software and/or hardware operated by atelecommunication service provider for controlling certain features ofthe operation of the NID. For instance, control point 128 can instructthe NID to provide (or cease to provide) particular applications and/ortelecommunication services to the customer premises 116. Control point128 can also provide other directions to the NID through the demarcationdevice 108, including, for instance, instructions to save or record aparticular information set (e.g., data representing a movie), such thatthe information set may quickly (and, in some cases), repeatedly betransmitted to customer premises 116, allowing the provision of voice,data, video, etc. on demand.

Often, it may be beneficial to allow the customer to provide stateinformation to the NID. Thus, in certain embodiments, control point 128may have a web interface, such that the customer or any authorizedperson, such as an employee of the telecommunication service provider ortelecommunication information provider, may log onto the web interfaceand configure options for the NID, perhaps resulting in state commandsbeing transmitted from the distribution point 104 to the NID. In otherembodiments, control point 128 can be a web interface to the NID itself,allowing the customer or other authorized person to configure the NIDdirectly. In still other embodiments, control point 128 can communicatewith the NID through an application programming interface (“API”).Hence, in some embodiments, control point 128 can interface with the NIDthrough an API.

In many such embodiments, the API comprises a logical interface, inwhich case it may include a set of software, hardware, or firmwareroutines or libraries that may be invoked programmatically to configureor relay information to internal components of the NID. In that sense,then, control point 128 can be understood to be a program running on acomputer, perhaps located at distribution point 104 or customer premises116, among other locations, that provides state information tocomponents of the NID via a software API. In other embodiments, the APIcomprises a physical interface to permit it to be accessed locally, suchas by a service technician. For example, the service technician couldvisit property outside the customer premises 116, attach a laptopcomputer or other device to the physical interface, and uploadinformation to the components of the NID, including perhaps both stateinformation, as well as other telecommunication information. In stillother embodiments, components of the NID can accept state informationthrough other means, including, for example, through a web interface byreceiving a specially formatted electronic message. This is especiallythe case in embodiments where one of the microservers comprised by theNID includes as a web server, as discussed below.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that certain control methodsare more well-suited to certain services than to others. For instance,with respect to cable television services, the same set of informationmay be broadcast to many households, and the NID is well-suited tocontrol access to those services, allowing for greater efficiency in theproviding of such services. In contrast, video on demand services mayinstead be controlled at a distribution point 104 or elsewhere such thata particular NID only receives video-on-demand information if thecustomer already has requested and been authorized to receive thatservice. In such cases, the NID may not need to provide access controlfunctions with respect to that service.

According to some embodiments, the NID can implement either of theseaccess control schemes, or both in combination, as well as others.Moreover, the NID can, in some cases, be configured to support aplurality of schemes transparently. For instance, the customer couldrequest a service from the NID, perhaps using one of the methodsdiscussed above, and the NID could relay that request to the appropriatetelecommunication service provider and/or telecommunication informationprovider, as well as reconfigure itself to allow access to that service,if necessary. Of course, the NID can also be configured to take anynecessary validating or authenticating action, such as notifying thedistribution point 104 and/or control point 128 that the service hasbeen requested, and, optionally, receiving a return confirmation thatthe service has been authorized.

In accordance with other embodiments, state information sent to the NMcan include one or more commands to interface with a particular CPE in acertain way. For instance, state information could instruct the NID toturn on and/or off certain lights or equipment, perhaps via additionalequipment, or to arm, disarm or otherwise monitor and/or configure ahome security system. State information can also include operationaldata such as an IP address, routing information, and the like, to namebut a few examples.

State information can further include instructions to modify one or moresecurity settings of the NID. Merely by way of example, in certainembodiments, the NID can include a computer virus scanner, and stateinformation can include updated virus definitions and/or heuristics.Likewise, the NID often will be configured with access controls, such asto prevent unauthorized access through the NID by third parties. Stateinformation can include instructions on how to deal with particularthird-party attempts to access the NID or internal transport medium 124.Those skilled in the art will recognize as well that some securitysettings may specify the level of access the customer has to thefunctions of the NID, such as to prevent unauthorized use of certaintelecommunication services, and that these settings also may be modifiedby received state information.

There are a variety of ways in which the various access-control andsecurity functionalities of the NID discussed above may be implemented.In different embodiments, these functionalities may be performed by thedemarcation device 108 and/or by other components such as some of themicroservers described below that may additionally be comprised by theNID. Moreover, the state information that manages such functionalitiesmay sometimes be sent periodically to the NID to ensure that it iscurrent. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that stateinformation can be considered a subset of the broader category oftelecommunication information.

Turning now to FIG. 1B, configuration 100′ is illustrative of certainembodiments that can provide multiple NIDs at customer premises 116. Afirst NID 107A comprises an application device 109A in addition to ademarcation device 108A, while a second NID 107B is shown comprising ademarcation device 108B but no application device. These differencesbetween the two NIDs are intended to illustrate that some functionalitymay be provided with an application device that is separate from a NID,such as in instances where the application device is instead comprisedby the CPE. Alternatively, some functionality may be provided withoutany application device at all, such as in instances where the one ormore microservers comprised by the NID provide all the desiredfunctionality. In the illustration of FIG. 1B, the application device109A is shown as separated from the corresponding demarcation device108A, although one or more of the multiple NIDs 107 may alternativelycomprise structures in which they are integrated. An example of suchintegration of an application device with an application device isdescribed in connection with FIG. 1C. In instances where a NID 107 hasseparated demarcation- and application-device components, the separatecomponents may both be affixed to an exterior wall of the customerpremises 116. This has the same advantages discussed previously inconnection with NIDs alone, namely ease of upgrading or otherwisechanging the network by a telecommunication service provider, butapplies also to the application device 109A. In other instances, theseparate components may be provided in different locations, such as byproviding the demarcation device 108A at a facility operated by thetelecommunication service provider while keeping the application device109A on the exterior wall of the customer premises 116.

The application device 109A may include a service interface 111A foraddressing the application device 109A. The service interface 111A maycomprise a physical interface, such as a universal serial bus (“USB”),FireWire (IEEE 1394), registered jack 11 (“RJ-11”), registered-jack 45(“RJ-45”), serial, coax, or other physical interface known to those ofskill in the art. In other embodiments, the service interface 111A maycomprise a logical interface, such as may be provided through a logicalconnection with an IP address.

The addressability of the application device 109A may be used in variousembodiments to change the state of the application device 109A. Suchstate information can include any set of data or other information thatmay be interpreted by the application device 109A as definingoperational instructions. This includes, for example, commands toprocess certain information sets in certain ways, e.g., to provideprotocol conversion, to allow transmission of the information set, todeny transmission of the information set, to direct transmission on aparticular interface, and the like, as well as commands to provide orcease providing a particular service, such as to provide access to apay-per-view movie or an additional telephone line. Thus, in certainaspects, a telecommunication service provider can control thetelecommunications services provided to a customer in several ways.First, the provider can only transmit a telecommunication informationset to a NID 107 if the user of that device is authorized to receive theapplication service associated with that information set. Alternatively,the service provider could send one or more telecommunications servicesto a customer's NID 107A, and rely on the state of the componentapplication device 109A to prevent unauthorized access to thoseservices.

Application device 109A may be in communication with CPE 120A throughinternal transport medium 124A, and implementation of the applicationsprovided by application device 109A can thus be achieved withtelecommunication information received and transmitted by demarcationdevices 108A. In addition, demarcation device 108A can be in directcommunication with CPE 120A through internal transport medium 124A, anddemarcation device 108B can likewise be in direct communication with CPE120B through internal transport medium 124B. Each of the NIDs 107 may beprovided in communication with a common distribution point 104 throughtheir respective demarcation devices 108. In particular, demarcationdevice 108B can communicate with distribution point 104 through externaltransport medium 112B which, as illustrated by FIG. 1B, can simply bespliced into external transport medium 112A, such as by using an activeor passive splitting device, which could be optical, as in a fiberenvironment, or electrical. If desired, demarcation devices 108 and/ordistribution point 104 can include control logic to prevent unauthorizedaccess by demarcation device 108A to telecommunication information sentto or received from demarcation device 108B, and vice versa. In otherembodiments, external transport medium 112B could run directly fromdemarcation device 108B to distribution point 104. In still otherembodiments, external transport medium 112B could be omitted, withdemarcation device 108B coupled to demarcation device 108A, which couldthen provide connectivity between demarcation device 108B anddistribution point 104 through external transport medium 112A.

Configuration 100′ can be used in a variety of implementations. Forinstance, if customer premises 116 is a multiple-dwelling unit (“MDU”),separate NIDs 107 can be provided for each separate resident or family.Alternatively, a single demarcation device, perhaps with moreinterfaces, can service multiple dwelling or business units. In suchimplementations, especially when external transport medium 112B does notdirectly couple demarcation device 108B to distribution point 104,demarcation devices 108A, 108B can include security functionality, forexample to prevent telecommunication signals intended for CPE 120A fromreaching CPE 120B and vice versa. In some embodiments, demarcationdevices 108 can provide a variety of such security, encryption, andauthentication functions.

The description above provides a specific example of a more generalclass of embodiments in which multiple NIDs 107 are daisy-chainedtogether, using any of the telecommunication media discussed herein.This allows a telecommunication service provider to provide service toadditional customers without requiring any additional external transportmedia. Similarly, NIDs 107 at multiple premises can be coupled together,such that if the external transport medium coupled to one of the NIDs107 fails, that device can maintain connectivity to the distributionpoint through its connection to another NID 107. A NID 107 in accordancewith specific embodiments thus may have an interface for securelyconnecting to one or more additional NIDs 107, and thus forming a meshnetwork of NIDs and/or distribution points. This allows a particular NID107 to serve as a conduit between another interface device and adistribution point without allowing any unauthorized reception oftelecommunication information intended for the connected interfacedevice. This secure interface can be included, for instance, in aportion of the NID 107 that is inaccessible to customers, as illustratedin FIG. 2A and described below.

In other embodiments, a single customer premises 116 might haveconnections to a plurality of telecommunication service providers. Forexample, turning now to FIG. 1C, configuration 100″ includes adistribution point 104A coupled to a first NID 107A via externaltransport medium 112A and also includes a second distribution point 104Bcoupled to a second NID 107B via external transport medium 112B. Merelyby way of example, distribution point 104B could, for example, beassociated with a cable television provider, while distribution point104A could be associated with a telephone company. In addition,configuration 100″ illustrates that multiple CPE 120A and 120C may becoupled with a single NID 107A. This may be done with multiple internaltransport media 124A and 124C as illustrated by FIG. 1C, or mayalternatively be done through a common internal transport medium asdiscussed below. Thus, for example, CPE 120A could be a telephone, CPE120C could be a fax machine, and CPE 120B could be a television.

FIG. 1C further provides an example of combinations of differentconfigurations for the NIDs 107. In particular, the second NID 107B,connected with distribution point 104B, is shown having an integrateddemarcation device 108B and application device 109B, with serviceinterface 111B. The first NID 107A, connected with distribution point104A, is instead shown having separated demarcation and applicationdevices. Moreover, the first NID 107A illustrates a NID that may have aplurality of application devices 109A and 109C in communication with asingle demarcation device 108A. Each of these application devices 109Amay have a respective service interface 111A and 111C, and may beconnected with different internal transport media 124A or 124C toreflect the different application capabilities. Thus, for example,application device 109A could provide an application intended fortelephone functions, such as caller identification or call waiting, andapplication device 109C could provide an application intended for faxfunctions, such as a storage and retrieval facility. The applicationdevice 109B comprised by the second NID 107B could provide anapplication intended for cable-TV functions, such as a digital recorderfunction.

In another alternative embodiment, such as configuration 100″′illustrated in FIG. 1D, a NID 107 can provide connectivity to aplurality of distribution points 104A and 104B, as well to a pluralityof CPE 120A, 120B, and 120C. The connectivity of a single ND 107 to aplurality of distribution points 104A and 104B and to a plurality of CPE120A, 120B, and 120C may be effected through attachments for multipleinternal transport media 124A, 124B, and 124C and for multiple externaltransport media 112A and 112B. Moreover, as illustrated by FIG. 1D, eachdistribution point 104A and 104B may be associated with a differentcontrol point 128A and 128B, respectively. In alternative embodiments, asingle control point 128 could provide configuration information to theNID 107 with respect to both distribution points 104A and 104B.

Turning now to FIG. 1E, another exemplary configuration 100″″ ispresented in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention. Inexemplary system 100″″, the NID 107 is shown having a configurationsimilar to that of FIG. 1D, but with a plurality of application devices109 that are provided separate from the NID 107. Two of the applicationdevices 109A and 109B are provided external to the customer premises 116and have service interfaces 111A and 111B. The third applicationinterface 109C is provide interior to the customer premises,illustrating that it is not a requirement that all of the applicationdevices 109 comprised by the NID 107 be disposed external to thecustomer premises. Instead of communication of the NID 107 with aplurality of control points 128 being effected through a plurality ofdistribution points 104, FIG. 1E shows an embodiment in which suchcommunication is achieved with a common distribution point 104. Thisdistribution point 104, which may be operated by a telecommunicationservice provider, can be in communication with one or moretelecommunication information providers 130A and 130B. Eachtelecommunication information provider 130A and 130B can be the sourceor recipient of one or more telecommunication information sets, each ofwhich may be associated with a particular telecommunication service.Each of the telecommunication information sets may thus be transmittedto, or received from, the distribution point 104. Distribution point 104can also transmit these information sets to, or received them from, theNID 107 through demarcation device 108, via external transport medium112. Such an configuration 100″″ thus exploits a capability of the NID107 to process a plurality of such information sets in a variety ofways, as discussed below.

In certain embodiments, each telecommunication information provider 130Aor 130B may have an individual control point 128B or 128C. In some suchembodiments, control points 128B and 128C can be in communication withthe NID 107 via distribution point 104 or, alternatively, could have aseparate means of communication with the NID 107, such as via a modemand telephone line. Thus, in some embodiments, the NID 107 can receivestate information from each control point 128B, and 128C through thedemarcation device 108. As discussed above, state information can directthe behavior of the demarcation device 108 and/or application devices109 comprised by the NID 107, in particular with respect to how tohandle telecommunication information to implement various applicationson the CPE 120A, 120B, and/or 120C. Such state information may bereceived by the NID 107 over the external transport medium 112 orthrough the service interfaces 111A and 111B of the application devices109A and 109B. In some embodiments, the NID 107 can be configured toaccept state information related only to the telecommunicationinformation and/or services provided by the telecommunicationinformation provider sending the state information. In this way, the NID107 can be protected against inadvertent or malicious misconfiguration,which could interrupt a telecommunication service provided by anothertelecommunication information provider. Likewise, the NID 107 could beconfigured to automatically request updated state information fromcontrol point 128A associated with distribution point 104 in the case ofmisconfiguration, and control point 128A could maintain a master set ofconfiguration information to be able to accommodate such a request.

In other embodiments, telecommunication information providers 130A and130B may not have an associated control point. In such embodiments,telecommunication information providers 130A and 130B can send stateinformation to control point 128A, perhaps via distribution point 104A,and control point 128A can relay that state information to thedemarcation device 108 (again, perhaps through distribution point 104).In this way the telecommunication service provider can control whichstate information is transmitted to the NID 107.

In certain embodiments, the demarcation device 108 can submit a requestfor state information to one or more control points 128A, 128B, and/or128C, perhaps via distribution point 104. Such a request might be madeif, for instance, the customer would like to watch a pay-per-view movie.The appropriate control point, e.g., 128B, could then provide the properstate information to the NID 107 as described above, allowingtransmission of the movie to customer premises 116.

As exemplified by configuration 132 in FIG. 1F, embodiments of theinvention enable a single NID 107 to serve multiple CPE 134A-F, each ofwhich can comprise a different appliance, at a single customer premises136. For instance, CPE 134A can be a computer with an Ethernetinterface, CPE 134B can be a telephone, CPE 134C can be a video gamesystem, CPE 134D can be a set-top box attached to a television, CPE 134Ecan be a computer with an HPNA interface, and CPE 134F can be a laptopcomputer equipped with a wireless network card.

Also as illustrated by configuration 132, the single NID 107 can supportmultiple network topologies. For instance, the NID 107 can serve as ahub for a point-to-point network topology, with multiple point-to-pointconnections to CPE 134A and 134B via internal transport media 138A and138B, respectively. In addition, the NID 107 can support a bus topology,as illustrated by internal transport medium 140, which can connect theNID 107 to CPE 134C, 134D and 134E. The NID 107 can also be equippedwith a wireless transmitter 142 for communication with wireless-capableCPE 134F. In this way, the NID 107 can support a wide variety ofnetworking media in customer premises 136, including the existingtelephone, satellite, cable, and network wiring. For instance, theexisting telephone wiring in most homes is arranged in a bus topology,as is most coaxial cable (for instance RG6 or RG59) installed by cabletelevision providers, although each may, in some implementations, bewired using a star topology. In contrast, many homes also have 10Base-TEthernet networks, which sometimes require a central hub. As usedherein, the term “10Base-T” can be understood to include newerimplementations of Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair wiring,including, for instance, 100 megabit Ethernet (100Base-T, 100VG-AnyLAN,etc.) and gigabit Ethernet (1000Base-T) standards. The NID 107 cansupport these and other network topologies, serving as the hub in a10Base-T network if necessary.

FIG. 1G illustrates another exemplary configuration 150 for using a NID152 in an xDSL implementation, according to certain embodiments of theinvention. In some embodiments, distribution point 154 can comprise ahost digital terminal 156 coupled by transport medium 158 to DSLAM 160.As noted above, however, in other embodiments, DSLAM 160 can beconsidered the distribution point. Host digital terminal 156 can becoupled to any of a variety of data sources and/or recipients, eitherdirectly, or indirectly, such as through the provider's network and/orthe Internet. In the illustrated embodiment, transport medium 158 can bea Synchronous Optical NETwork (“SONET”) link (e.g., OC-3, OC-12, etc.),although those skilled in the art will recognize that other suitabletransport media may be substituted.

In accordance with some embodiments, distribution point 154 alsocomprises a central office shelf 162 in communication with the PSTN 164,as well with an asynchronous transfer mode (“ATM”) network 166, eitherof which can provide connectivity to any of the variety of data sourcesand/or recipients discussed above. In certain embodiments, shelf 162 is,in turn, coupled to fiber distribution panel 168, which is connected bytransport medium 170 to a digital loop carrier remote terminationcabinet 172. Remote termination cabinet 172 can also be coupled to DSLAM160 by transport medium 174, which may be routed through serving areainterface 176. In effect, transport medium 174 can carry one or morePOTS information sets, and transport medium 158 can carry one or morenon-POTS (in this case xDSL) information sets. As illustrated, these twoinformation sets can be combined at DSLAM 160, which is in communicationwith serving area interface 176 through transport medium 178. Servingarea interface 176 can be coupled to NID 152 with transport medium 180to provide functionality for various equipment within the customerpremises 182. In the illustrated embodiment, the NID 152 is fixedlyattached to an exterior wall at the customer premises 182 and is coupledvia one or more internal transport media 184A-I to a variety of CPE,including without limitation a television set 186, a video phone 188, anIP-compatible set-top box 190, an analog (POTS) telephone 192, anIP-compatible phone 194, and a personal computer 196. In this way, a NID151 can be used to provide a plurality of telecommunication services toa customer premises.

2. Structure of Network Interface Device with Microserver

One exemplary embodiment of a NID 200 is illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C. Forpurposes of illustration, FIGS. 2A and 2B provide top views thatexplicitly show components within the NID 200 for different embodiments,while FIG. 2C provides a side view that shows the logical organizationof the NID 200 without the components. In the illustrated embodiment,NID 200 comprises a clamshell design, with a lid portion 204 and a bodyportion 208 connected by hinges 212A and 212B. The body portion 208comprises a network area 216 and a customer area 220. Generally, networkarea 216 is adapted to receive a cover and is designed generally to beaccessible only to personnel authorized by the telecommunication serviceprovider. In contrast, when ND 200 is open, the customer can accesscustomer area 220 to add or remove components as desired. In this andother ways, the NID 200 serves to isolate the telecommunication serviceprovider's network from the customer's network, as described above.

The NID 200 can include a first interface 228 for communicating with theprovider's external transport medium. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that, in some embodiments, as described above, the externaltransport medium may comprise the twisted-pair copper “local loop”running from the customer's premises to the telecommunication serviceprovider's local office, and interface 228 will allow for the attachmentof the local loop to the NID 200. As discussed above, in otherembodiments, the external transport medium can be any of a variety ofother media, including satellite transmissions, wireless transmissions,coaxial cable. In fact, in certain embodiments, the external transportmedium can comprise multiple transport media (of the same or differenttypes), for which the NID 200 could include multiple interfaces. In somesuch embodiments, the NID 200 can function to couple a plurality ofexternal transport media to one another, seamlessly increasing thebandwidth available to the customer premises. For instance, a customerpremises might have a satellite link to one telecommunication serviceprovider and an ADSL link to another provider, and the NID 200 couldcombine or multiplex these two links to provide an apparent single,higher-bandwidth to the customer premises. Similarly, those skilled inthe art will recognize that in certain of these embodiments, aparticular external transport medium, such as a satellite link, may bemore well-suited to one way transmission of telecommunicationinformation; in such cases, the NID 200 could use a second externaltransport medium, such as an ADSL link, to allow transmission in theother direction.

Interface 228 can be coupled to a discrimination device 232, which canbe operative to separate information sets received on interface 228,and, conversely, aggregate information sets for transmission oninterface 22). Merely by way of example, in particular embodiments,discrimination device 232 can separate POTS information from othertelecommunication information and/or isolate signals on the internaltransport medium from the external transport medium and vice versa. Insome embodiments, for instance xDSL implementations, discriminationdevice 232 can comprise one or more filters. Such filters can include,but are not limited to, high-pass, low-pass, and/or band-pass filters.For instance, in an xDSL implementation, discrimination device 232 mightinclude a high-pass and/or low-pass filter for separating high-frequency(e.g., data) from low frequency (e.g., POTS) information. In otherembodiments, discrimination device 232 can comprise many other types offilters, including both digital and analog filters. Discriminationdevice 232 can be operable to separate information sets through avariety of criteria, including for example, by frequency, by destinationdevice, information type, and/or frequency. Further, in certainembodiments, information sets can be multiplexed (for instance, usingvarious time-division multiplexing or wave-division multiplexing schemesknown in the art) for transmission over an external transport medium,and discrimination device 232 can comprise a demultiplexer capable ofseparating multiplexed signals and, optionally, routing each signal tothe necessary destination.

In the illustrated embodiment, discrimination device 232 is incommunication with a second interface 236, which can interface with thetelephone wires at the customer premises to provide traditional analogtelephone service. In some embodiments, an aggregator 240 can besituated between discrimination device 232 and interface 236 to allowadditional, perhaps non-POTS, information sets to be sent and receivedthrough interface 236 simultaneously with the POTS information. This caninclude, for example, aggregating information sets for transmission ofan HPNA signal over an internal transport medium.

The discrimination device can also be coupled to a processing system244, which in the illustrated embodiment is located in the lid portion204, and all non-POTS information sets can be routed to processingsystem 244 for additional processing. Processing system 244 is describedin detail below, but can, in general, comprise one or microprocessors,including digital signal processor (“DSP”) chips, memory devices,including both volatile and nonvolatile memories, and storage devices,including hard disk drives, optical drives and other media. In fact,processing system 244 can comprise the equivalent of one or morepersonal computers, running any of a variety of operating systems,including variants of Microsoft's Windows™ operating system, as well asvarious flavors of the UNIX™ operating system, including open sourceimplementations such as the several Linux™ and FreeBSD™ operatingsystems.

Telecommunication information or information sets can be processed byprocessing system 244 in a variety of ways, including, for example,routing a given information set to a particular interface, transforminginformation such as by encoding and/or decoding information andconverting between different transport protocols, storing information,filtering information, and any of the other functions described hereinwith respect to processing systems. In certain embodiments, processingsystem 244 can serve as the termination point for an external transportmedium; for instance processing system 244 can incorporate thefunctionality of an xDSL modem. In other embodiments, processing system244 can serve to identify quality-of-service requirements (for instance,latency requirements for voice transmissions and bandwidth requirementsfor streaming media transmissions, to name a few) and enforce thoserequirements, ensuring that sufficient bandwidth is provided to aparticular device, network segment or application to maintain thequality of service required.

In certain embodiments, such as those described above with respect toFIG. 1D, a NID may comprise another interface in communication with asecond distribution point 104B through an additional external transportmedium 112A, perhaps operated by a different telecommunication serviceprovider. In such a case, the additional external interface could becoupled to discrimination device 232, or it could be coupled to anotherdiscrimination device, which could also be in communication withprocessing system 244, interface 236 and/or aggregator 240. Thus,certain embodiments allow a single NID to serve as a communicationgateway between the customer premises and multiple telecommunicationservice providers, including combining or multiplexing multiple externaltransport media (each of which may be in communication with a differenttelecommunication service provider and/or telecommunication informationprovider) as discussed above.

In the illustrated example, processing system 244 is in communicationwith aggregator 240, which, as discussed above, can aggregate non-POTSinformation sets received from processing system 244 and POTSinformation sets received directly from discrimination device 232 forconsolidated transmission via interface 236. In effect, discriminationdevice 232 and aggregator 240, perhaps in conjunction with processingsystem 244, can function to separate telecommunication informationreceived on interface 228 into a set of POTS telecommunicationinformation and a set of non-POTS telecommunication information. POTSinformation can be understood to include ordinary telephone signals, andnon-POTS information can be understood to include all othertelecommunication information). The non-POTS information is routed viatransport medium 248 to processing system 244 for processing, and thePOTS information is routed to interface 236 for transmission to theinternal transport medium. In certain embodiments, one or more sets ofnon-POTS information can be routed to interface 236 using transportmedium 252 for transmission through interface 236, perhaps incombination with one or more sets of POTS information.

Of course, discrimination device 232 and aggregator 240 can perform thesame function in reverse, i.e., to separate and recombine different setsof telecommunication information received on interface 236 from thecustomer's premises. Thus, in some embodiments, both discriminationdevice 232 and aggregator 240 each can perform a combineddiscrimination-device—aggregator function, depending on the direction ofinformation flow. In fact, while termed “discrimination device” and“aggregator” for ease of description, those two devices can actually beidentical, and further, their functionality can, in some embodiments, beincorporated into a single device, which could be coupled to interface228, interface 236, and processing system 244, and could routeinformation sets among any of those three components as necessary.Moreover, as described below, the functionality of discrimination device232 and/or aggregator 240 can be incorporated into processing system244; likewise discrimination device 232 can incorporate interface 228and/or aggregator 240 can incorporate interface 236, such thatdiscrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 comprise the necessarycomponents to be coupled directly to the external and internal transportmedia, respectively.

Discrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 can also serve anotherfunction in certain embodiments: Since the external transport medium iscoupled to first interface 228 and the internal transport medium can becoupled to, inter alia, second interface 236, the discrimination device232 and/or aggregator 240 can serve as an isolation device forintermediating between the two media, such that when a topologicalchange occurs in one of the media, only the NID interface need bechanged, and the other transport medium is not affected. In some suchembodiments, discrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 can serveto intermediate (including protocol translation and the like) betweeninterfaces 232, 240, allowing either the internal or the externaltransport medium to be upgraded or changed without impacting the othertransport medium. Of course, in certain embodiments, this isolationfunction also could be performed by processing system 244. In yet otherembodiments, the isolation device might comprise a′separate piece ofhardware in communication with discrimination device 232, aggregator 240and/or processing system 244.

In different embodiments, the NID 200 may or may not compriseapplication devices. FIG. 2A illustrates a configuration in which noapplication devices are provided, with the processing system 244 beingprovided in communication with interfaces 256 and 260 respectively bytransport media 263 and 268, and in communication with the aggregator240 with transport medium 251. FIG. 2A illustrates an alternativeembodiment in which the NID 200 also comprises one or more applicationdevices 246, which are usually disposed in the network area 216. In thisembodiment, the application devices 246 are provided in communicationwith the processing system 244 by transport media 251, 263, and/or 268.In some instances, such as illustrated with application devices 246A and246B, the application devices may be in communication with interfaces256 and 260 such as over transport media 264 and 269. Interfaces 256 and260 allow communication with transport media internal to the customerpremises. For example, interface 256 could be a coaxial interface forconnection to RG6 and/or RG59 cable, and interface 260 could be an RJ45and/or RJ11 interface for connection to unshielded twisted pair cable,which can, for instance, form a 10Base-T Ethernet network.

In other instances, such as illustrated with application device 246C,information might be routed from the application device 246C through theaggregator 240. Such an application device may be suitable forapplications that use IP data, such as a VoIP application. For example,the NID 200 might receive IP data, perhaps combined with other types oftelecommunication information, on interface 228. The information setcomprising the IP data can be routed by the discrimination device 232via medium 248 to processing system 244, where it can be processed.Depending on the embodiment, it could then be routed via transportmedium 251 to VoIP application device 246C and then provided to thecustomer's existing telephone wiring using interface 236, optionally inconjunction with aggregator 240 and/or one or more line drivers. Itcould alternatively be routed to any of the other application devices246A or 246B depending on their functionality. In this way, the NID canallow virtually unlimited connectivity options for each CPE at thecustomer premises. Adding to the flexibility of NID 200, the processingsystem 244 could include components to serve, for example, as a cable orxDSL modem, as well as components to serve as an Ethernet hub, switch,router, or gateway, the functions of each of which are familiar to thoseof skill in the art.

Furthermore, the application devices 246 may be provided generallywithin the network area 216 or in the consumer area 208, or with some inthe network area 216 and others in the consumer area 208, depending onthe embodiment. This is illustrated in FIG. 2B by showing applicationdevices 246A and 246C disposed within the network area 216 of the NID200 and application device 246B disposed within the consumer area 208 ofthe NID 200.

Each of the application devices 246 in the NID may include a serviceinterface 277 to permit states of the application devices 246 to bechanged and/or updated. As previously notes, such interfaces maycomprise physical interfaces such as USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394), RJ-11,RJ-45, serial, coaxial, or other physical interfaces, to permit aservice technician to interact with the application devices 246 while atthe site of the NID 200. Alternatively, the service interfaces maycomprise logical interfaces to permit IP addressing to be used inchanging the state of the application devices. In many instances, theNID 200 may also include a future-application device with openarchitecture to support new applications. The architecture may beconfigured by use of the service interfaces 277 when the new applicationis implemented. Examples of a variety of different application devices246 that be incorporated within the NID 200 in order to provide aversatile range of functionality are discussed in detail in the '597application.

In certain embodiments, NID 200 can comprise a line driver (not shown onFIG. 2A or 2B), coupled to processing system 244 and aggregator 240. Theline driver can function to allow conversion between various networkformats and media, allowing a variety of different media types, e.g.,twisted pair and/or coaxial cable, in accordance with the HPNA and HPNA+standards, as well, perhaps, as the customer premises' A/C wiring, inaccordance, for example, with the HomePlug™ standard, to transportcombined POTS and non-POTS information sets.

In certain embodiments, NID 200 can comprise a power supply 272 forproviding electrical power to the components in NID 200. Power supply272 can be powered through electrical current carried on the externaltransport medium and received on interface 228. Alternatively, powersupply can receive electrical current from a coaxial interface, such asinterface 256, or through a dedicated transformer plugged into an ACoutlet at customer premises, e.g., through 12V connection 276.Processing system 244 can be powered by a connection 280 to power supply272, or through one or more separate power sources, including perhapsthe A/C power of the customer premises. In some embodiments, processingsystem 244 might have its own power supply.

The processing system 244 comprises one or more microservers that use acombination of software and hardware to implement a specified limitedset of functions, in addition to other components that may be includedsuch as memory devices, storage devices and the like. Merely by way ofexample, FIG. 2D provides a detailed illustration of an exemplaryprocessing system 244 that comprises multiple microservers 291. Inaccordance with the exemplified embodiment, transport medium 248 linksprocessing system 244 with an external transport medium, perhaps via adiscrimination device and/or interface, as described above. Transportmedium 248 can be coupled to a plurality of microservers 291 such thatany information received by the processing system 244 via transportmedium 248 may be routed to any of the microservers 291. Eachmicroserver can, in some embodiments, be the equivalent of a servercomputer, complete with memory devices, storage devices, and the like,each of which is known in the art. In FIG. 2D, storage devices 293associated with each of the microservers 291 are shown. Depending on theembodiment, each microserver may or may not be associated with anapplication device to provide information received from transport medium248 and specifically processed for use by the corresponding device.

In addition to their specific functions, the microservers 291 can beconfigured to route information sets received via transport medium 248,according to the type of telecommunication information in the set (e.g.,encoded video, IP data, etc.) as well as any addressing informationassociated with either the set or the information it comprises (e.g., aspecified destination port or network address for a particular subset oftelecommunication information). In this way, microservers 291 can serveswitching functions somewhat similar to that described with respect todiscrimination device 232 described in relation to FIGS. 2A and 2B. Forinstance, if IP data are received by microserver 291A, such data can berouted to an Ethernet connection, to the existing telephone wiring,e.g., in an HPNA implementation, or to any other appropriate medium,perhaps via an appropriate line driver. In fact, in certain embodiments,processing system 244, and in particular one or more of microservers291, can incorporate the functionality of discrimination device 232and/or aggregator 240, rendering those components optional. In someembodiments, one or more of the microservers may be adapted to functionas a controller for the NID 200, overseeing the NID's state andmonitoring performance. In some embodiments, the controller functionscan be accessed using a web browser.

Processing system 244 can have multiple means of input and output.Merely by way of example, microservers 291 can communicate with one ormore external transport media (perhaps, as discussed above, viaintermediary devices) using one or more transport media (e.g., 248).Processing system 244 also can communicate with one or more internaltransport media via a variety of information conduits, such as category5, 5e and/or 6 unshielded twisted pair wire 268, RG6 and/or RG59 coaxialcable 264, and category 3 unshielded twisted pair copper (telephone)wire 252, again possibly via intermediary devices, as discussed withreference to FIG. 2B. Notably, some embodiments of processing system 244can include interfaces for multiple transport media of a particulartype, for instance, if processing system 244 serves as a networking hub,switch or router. Processing system 244 can also have infra-red andradio-frequency receivers and transmitters, for instance to allow use ofa remote control device, as well as wireless transceivers, for instanceto allow wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11) networking.

3. Microserver Configurations

FIGS. 3A-3K provide a number of exemplary configurations that may beused for the microservers. Each of these figures is intended toillustrate a particular microserver functionality, with it beingunderstood that multiple such functionality may be provided in aparticular NID by including of the desired microserver configurations.FIGS. 3A-3K are also drawn to illustrate the functionality schematicallyby simplifying the illustration of communications within the NID. Inparticular, the NID is shown comprising a lid portion 204 and a bodyportion 208, with the microservers located within the lid portion 204,although other locations may be used in other embodiments also.Communication with the NID from the external transport medium iseffected with interface 228 and the structure of FIGS. 2A and 2B thatroutes relevant information to the processing system 244 is indicatedgenerically with network interfaces 302. The manner in whichcommunications between components in the body portion 208 and componentsin the lid portion 204 are effected is indicated schematically withbody-portion bus 304 and lid-portion bus 306, which are themselves incommunication. The microservers themselves may be adapted to interfacewith the NID via a modular design to provide a plug-and-play device.

In one embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 3A, the microserver comprises anauthentication microserver 322. This is an example of a relativelysimple microserver 322 and may be provided in the form of an EPROM,EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, together with programming toimplement authentication functions. Such authentication functions may beused for verifying that certain functionality of the NID should beenabled for a particular customer. For example, the authenticationmicroserver 322 may provide initial processing of a request for aparticular function to ensure that the customer premises is entitled toreceive that functionality, such as by comparing records of authorizedfunctions against the request. In response, the details of the specificrequest may be forwarded by the authentication microserver 322 internalto the NID to other microservers or applications as appropriate.

FIG. 3B provides an illustration of a NID that comprises a File TransferProtocol (“FTP”) and/or Trivial File Transfer Protocol (“TFTP”)microserver 324. Such a microserver may also be provided in the form ofan EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, together withprogramming to implement functions that allow for the transfer ofinformation to and/or from the NID. Such information may be organized asan electronic file of information. In some instances, the FTP/TFTPmicroserver 324 may be provided in communication with firmware 326comprised by the NID, with information received by the FTP/TFTPmicroserver 324 taking the form of new-configuration files that definean upgrade for the firmware 326. More generally, the FTP/TFTPmicroserver 324 may be used for receiving configuration files for anyprogrammable component of the NID, including application devices thatmay be comprised by the NID and even including other microservers thatmay be comprised by the ND. The FTP/TFTP microserver 324 coordinatestransmission of these configuration files to implement upgrades offunctionality of such programmable components. In this way, theinclusion of the FTP/TFTP microserver 324 within the NID provides amechanism for maintaining a desired level of technological currency forthe NID, allowing the support of new software and expanded capabilitiesas these are developed. Standard communications protocols for effectingFTP and/or TFTP transfers as are known in the art may be used by theFTP/TFTP microserver 324 to implement this functionality.

FIG. 3C provides an illustration of a embodiment in which the NIDcomprises a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (“DHCP”) microserver328. Examples of physical structures that may be used to provide theDHCP microserver 328 include an EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA,and the like, together with programming to implement functions thatallow the assignment of an IP address from the NID. The programming mayimplement standard DHCP protocols for address assignment as are known inthe art. The programming may support public IP address assignment,private IP address assignment, or a combination of public and private IPaddress assignment, thereby enabling the support of selecting andconfiguring IP address ranges for a variety of different CPE devices. Asa result, the NID may provide network-access capability to these CPEdevices for each customer premises. In different embodiments,configuration of the IP address ranges may be performed by thetelecommunication service provider or by the customer, perhaps dependingon specific characteristics of the telecommunication service beingprovided. In some instances, the DHCP microserver 328 may also besupported with upgradeable firmware 330 to allow the support of newsoftware and additional capabilities. In instances where the NIDadditionally comprises a file-transfer microserver, such as the FTP/TFTPmicroserver 324 described in connection with FIG. 3B, such new softwaremay be provided to the firmware 330 with the file-transfer microserver.

For some applications, a combination of distinct microservers may beappropriate for implementing certain NID functionality. FIG. 3D providesan example in which the NID comprises both an HTML microserver 332 and awebserver microserver 334. Each of these microservers may be embodiedwith physical structures that allow the implementation of software, suchas an EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, and the like. Programmingembodied by the HTML microserver 332 allows the processing of HTML codethat may be received by the NID according to well-known protocols. Avariety of equivalent microservers may be substituted in alternativeembodiments to process other types of code or computer languages, suchas microservers for processing. Such microservers are describedgenerically herein as “code-processing microservers.” The discussionherein of processing HTML code is intended to be exemplary and to limitthe scope of the invention.

The processed code may then be transmitted to the webserver microserver334, which includes software for rendering a display of incomingweb-page information suitable for presentation with a web-browserenabled device. In order to effect such rendering, the softwarecomprised by the webserver microserver 334 may provide a configurationfor the NID and configurations for application devices that may beintegrated with or in communication with the NID. The combination of theHTML and webserver microservers 332 and 334 thus allows for bothhardware and software configuration changes to be made to the NID with acustomer-based graphic-user interface (“GUI”). A NID equipped in thisfashion may therefore be used by a customer to effect customer-premisesand access network changes, to modify IP configurations, to initiate andupdate registration of application devices integrated with or incommunication with the NID, and the like. The webserver microserver 334may be adapted to support a variety of different codes, usuallycorresponding to the codes or computer languages processed by acode-processing microserver comprised by the NID. In some instances, theHTML microserver 332 and/or the webserver microserver 334 may besupported with upgradeable firmware (not shown in FIG. 3D) to allow thesupport of new software and additional capabilities. In embodimentswhere the NID additionally comprises a file-transfer microserver, suchas the FTP/TFTP microserver 324 described in connection with FIG. 3B,the new software may optionally be provided to the supporting firmwarewith the file-transfer microserver.

Other combinations of multiple microservers that include a webservermicroserver to implement still other functionality are illustrated inFIGS. 3E-3G. In FIG. 3E, an email alert microserver 336 is provided incombination with a webserver microserver 338, both of which may again beprovided with physical structures that include an EPROM, EEPROM, PLD,EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, and the like. The email alert microserver 336 includessoftware that monitors a set of defined email accounts, such as emailaccounts for users at a specific customer premises, and that initiatesan alert when a new message is received by one of those accounts. Thealert is transmitted by the email alert microserver 336 to any devicewithin the customer premises configured for receipt of alerts. Such anarrangement thus permits a variety of different devices to be used inthe customer premises as email alerting devices, including not onlydevices such as a personal computer or television, but any device thatmay be in communication with the NID even if it is not a device normallyused for receiving email. The webserver microserver 338 permitsimplementation of a customer-based GUI that allows for softwareconfiguration changes for the email alert microserver 336 to be effectedconveniently. In alternative embodiments where a file-transfermicroserver is comprised by the ND, such as the FTP/TFTP microserver 324described in connection with FIG. 3B, software configuration changes maybe effected through transfer of an electronic file. Also, in someembodiments, upgradeable firmware (not shown in FIG. 3E) mayadditionally be provided to support the email alert microserver 336and/or webserver microserver 338. In cases where the alert istransmitted to a device that may receive the email message, an optionmay be provided to allow a user to choose to read the email message. Insuch instances, the email message may be transmitted to a conversionapplication 340 for conversion to a readable format before it istransmitted to the device where it is read.

In FIG. 3F, a similar arrangement is used to provide aninstant-messenger client to a customer by including an instant-messengermicroserver 342 in the NID in combination with a webserver microserver344. In this instance, the microservers may be embodied physically withan EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, with theinstant-messenger microserver 342 having software for implementingmessenger-client functions. A conversion application 346 allows receivedmessages to be converted to readable formats for transmission to deviceswithin the customer premises. A user has the option of responding to themessage or ignoring it. Typical instant-messenger functionality that maybe supported by the instant-messenger microserver 342 may include alogin/logout facility, a capability to edit a personal profile, aconnect/disconnect facility, a feature for maintaining privacy settingsand other preferences information, a facility for maintaining afrequent-contact list, a facility for sending messages, a facility ofconferencing multiple users, a chat facility, and the like. An abilityto modify the capabilities of the instant-messenger microserver 342 maybe provided with a webserver microserver 344 to allow softwareconfiguration changes to be effected through a customer-based GUI. Moresignificant capability updates may be effected by providing new softwarewith a file through a file-transfer microserver such as the FTP/TFTPmicroserver described in connection with FIG. 3B. In some instances,such software updates may be made to supporting firmware (not shown inFIG. 3F) that may additionally be comprised by the NID.

As shown in FIG. 3G, an advertising microserver 354 may be provided incombination with a webserver microserver 356 in some embodiments. Eachof the microservers may be embodied physically with an EPROM, EEPROM,PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, and the advertising microserver 354may include software that initiates transmission of advertisementdisplays to the webserver microserver 356. With such an arrangement,advertisements approved by the telecommunication service provider,perhaps as part of a contractual arrangement with an advertiser, may bedownloaded through the NID to the advertising microserver. When acustomer is using the webserver microserver 356, the advertisements maythen be displayed according to criteria maintained by the advertisingmicroserver 354. Such an arrangement may permit more personalizedadvertising to be presented to customers.

FIG. 3H illustrates an embodiment that makes use of a wirelessmicroserver 358. This microserver may also be embodied physically withan EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, and includessoftware for effecting an interface between wireless communicationswithin the customer premises to the network-layer protocols. In thisway, the NID may provide support for wireless communications in additionto supporting copper-wire, optical-fiber, and similar communications.

FIG. 3I shows an embodiment in which an RF power-level microserver 360is comprised by the NID. A combination of hardware in the from on anEPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, with software thatmeasures RF power levels at the NID permits power losses between thenetwork interface and the upstream telecommunication service provider.Such a capability provides a useful diagnostic function in monitoringthe transmission of telecommunication information by thetelecommunication service provider. For example, failure of an RFtelevision signal that is being provided to a customer premises mayindicate the presence of a fault along the transmission path to thatcustomer premises. When multiple NIDs at different customer-premiseslocations are so equipped, the pattern of power losses may be used tolocalize the position of the fault. This may be evident, for example,where a first group of customer-premises locations are experiencingpower losses while a second group is not, the fault being located wherethe transmissions to the two group bifurcates.

Other diagnostic functions may be provided by other microservers. Forexample, FIG. 3J shows an embodiment in which the NID comprises atest-access microserver 362. Such a device may include a physicalembodiment in the form of an EPROM, EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, orthe like, together with software that implements test functions. Thetest-access microserver 362 is normally accessible only by a technicianand is used to check services being supplied by the NID. Accordingly,the software comprised by the test-access microserver 362 identifiessoftware and/or hardware paths through other microservers, applicationdevices, or other components of the NID to verify correct functionality.

FIG. 3K shows an embodiment in which the NID comprises a data-securitymicroserver 364. Such a device may be embodied in the form of an EPROM,EEPROM, PLD, EPLD, CPLD, FPGA, or the like, with software that allows itto implement security protocols over data that are being stored. Becausethey are under the control of the telecommunication service provider,these security protocols may be more sophisticated than those otherwiseavailable to customers. The ability for a customer to load data securelyto the upstream telecommunication provider for storage offers aconvenient mechanism for data storage.

4. Implementation

Other embodiments of the invention include methods for providingtelecommunication information to a transport medium internal to acustomer premises. In some instances, such methods may make use of theNID structure described above. Several such embodiments are thereforesummarized with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 4. Specific details ofhow each of the steps shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented have beendiscussed at length above; accordingly, these steps are described onlybriefly in connection with FIG. 4. As indicated at block 404, thetransport media internal to the customer premises and the transportmedia external to the customer premises are isolated, permitting a flowof telecommunication information between them to be mediated. At block408, telecommunication information is received from a transport mediumexternal to a customer premises so that it may be selectively processedwith a microserver at block 412. A predetermined function is implementedover the internal transport medium with the processed telecommunicationinformation at block 416. As indicated at block 420, in some embodimentsthe predetermined function may be implemented as an applicationimplemented by an addressable application device. A number of suchapplications are discussed in greater detail in the '597 application.

Selective processing of the telecommunication information may proceed ina variety of different ways in different embodiments. For example, asindicated at block 424, the telecommunication information may beselectively processed to verify that the predetermined function is onethat has been authorized for the customer premises. At block 428, thetelecommunication information may be selectively processed bytransferring an electronic file of information. At block 432, assignmentof IP addresses to one or more devices coupled with the internaltransport medium may be managed. At block 436, code may be received andprocessed for use in implementing the predetermined function. At block440, the telecommunication information may be selectively processed byrendering a display of incoming web-page information suitable forpresentation with a web-browser enabled device. At block 444, an emailalert may be initiated in response to receipt of an email message at anemail account, and at block 448, instant-messaging functionality may beprovided over the internal transport medium. As indicated at block 452,the telecommunication information may be selectively processed to rendera display of web-page information for presentation with a web-browserdevice, and an advertisement may be overlaid over the display at block456. At block 460, an interface between wireless communications withinthe customer premises to the external transport medium may be providedwith the selectively processed telecommunication information. At block464, an RF power level of the telecommunication information receivedfrom the external transport medium may be monitored to enable localizedidentification of faults. At block 468, a customer-based GUI may beprovided for implementing software configuration changes governing howthe received telecommunication information is selectively processed.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that while the blocks in FIG.4 are provided in an exemplary order, there is no requirement thatrespective steps be performed in the order shown. In some embodiments,the respective steps may be performed in a different order. Also, thereis no requirement that all of the steps shown in FIG. 4 be performed ina given embodiment since the telecommunication information may beprovided to the internal transport medium in accordance with embodimentsof the invention by performing a subset of the recited steps.

Thus, having described several embodiments, it will be recognized bythose of skill in the art that various modifications, alternativeconstructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from thespirit of the invention. Accordingly, the above description should notbe taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined in thefollowing claims.

1. A network interface device comprising: an isolation device adapted toisolate a transport medium internal to a customer premises from atransport medium external to the customer premises such that operationalchanges to one of the internal and external transport media do notaffect the other of the internal and external transport media; a firstinterface coupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicatewith the external transport medium, wherein the external transportmedium is in communication with a distribution point; a second interfacecoupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with theinternal transport medium; and a microserver disposed external to thecustomer premises and coupled with the first and second interfaces,wherein the microserver is adapted to receive telecommunicationinformation from the external transport medium and includes software forimplementing a predetermined function over the internal transport mediumby processing the received telecommunication information.
 2. The networkinterface device recited in claim 1 wherein the isolation device andmicroserver are disposed within a common housing.
 3. The networkinterface device recited in claim 2 wherein the common housing isdisposed on an exterior wall of the customer premises.
 4. The networkinterface device recited in claim 1 further comprising an addressableapplication device coupled with the microserver, wherein the addressableapplication device is adapted to receive the processed telecommunicationinformation and to execute a defined application as an aid toimplementing the predetermined function over the internal transportmedium.
 5. The network interface device recited in claim 4 wherein theaddressable application device is disposed external to the customerpremises.
 6. The network interface device recited in claim 5 wherein theisolation device, microserver, and addressable application device aredisposed within a common housing.
 7. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises an authenticationmicroserver adapted to verify that the predetermined function isauthorized for the customer premises.
 8. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises a file-transfermicroserver adapted to transfer an electronic file of information to orfrom the network interface device.
 9. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises a dynamic hostconfiguration protocol microserver adapted to manage aninternet-protocol address assignment to a device coupled with theinternal transport medium.
 10. The network interface device recited inclaim 9 wherein the internet-protocol address assignment comprises apublic internet-protocol address assignment.
 11. The network interfacedevice recited in claim 9 wherein the internet-protocol addressassignment comprises a private internet-protocol address assignment. 12.The network interface device recited in claim 1 wherein the microservercomprises a code-processing microserver adapted to receive code andprocess the code for use by another component of the network interfacedevice.
 13. The network interface device recited in claim 12 wherein themicroserver further comprises a webserver microserver adapted to rendera display of incoming web-page information suitable for presentationwith a web-browser enabled device.
 14. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises an email alertmicroserver adapted to initiate an alert in response to receipt of anemail message at an email account.
 15. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises aninstant-messenger microserver adapted to provide instant-messagingfunctionality over the internal transport medium.
 16. The networkinterface device recited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises: awebserver microserver adapted to render a display of web-pageinformation suitable for presentation with a web-browser enabled device;and an advertising microserver adapted to overlay an advertisement overthe display of web-page information.
 17. The network interface devicerecited in claim 1 wherein the microserver comprises a wirelessmicroserver adapted to provide an interface between wirelesscommunications within the customer premises to the external transportmedium.
 18. The network interface device recited in claim 1 wherein themicroserver comprises an RF power-level microserver adapted to monitoran RF power level of telecommunication information received at the firstinterface.
 19. The network interface device recited in claim 1 whereinthe microserver comprises a test-access microserver adapted to verifyproper functioning of another component of the network interface device.20. The network interface device recited in claim 1 further comprising awebserver microserver coupled with the microserver and adapted toprovide a customer-based graphical user interface for implementingsoftware configuration changes of the microserver.
 21. The networkinterface recited in claim 1 further comprising upgradeable firmwarethat supports the microserver.
 22. A method for providingtelecommunication information to a transport medium internal to acustomer premises, the method comprising: isolating the internaltransport medium from a transport medium external to the customerpremises such that operational changes to one of the internal andexternal transport media do not affect the other of the internal andexternal transport media; receiving the telecommunication informationfrom the external transport medium; selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information with a microserver disposed external tothe customer premises; and thereafter, implementing a predeterminedfunction over the internal transport medium with the processedtelecommunication information.
 23. The method recited in claim 22further comprising transmitting the processed telecommunicationinformation to an addressable application device disposed external tothe customer premises, wherein implementing the predetermined functioncomprises implementing an application over the internal transport mediumwith the addressable application device.
 24. The method recited in claim22 wherein selectively processing the received telecommunicationinformation with the microserver comprises verifying that thepredetermined function is authorized for the customer premises with anauthentication microserver.
 25. The method recited in claim 22 whereinselectively processing the received telecommunication information withthe microserver comprises transferring an electronic file of informationwith a file-transfer microserver.
 26. The method recited in claim 22wherein selectively processing the received telecommunicationinformation with the microserver comprises managing an internet-protocoladdress assignment to a device coupled with the internal transportmedium with a dynamic host configuration protocol microserver.
 27. Themethod recited in claim 22 wherein selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information with the microserver comprises receivingcode and processing the code for use in implementing the predeterminedfunction with a code-processing microserver.
 28. The method recited inclaim 27 wherein selectively processing the received telecommunicationinformation with the microserver further comprises rendering a displayof incoming web-page information suitable for presentation with aweb-browser enabled device with a webserver microserver.
 29. The methodrecited in claim 22 wherein selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information with the microserver comprises initiatingan alert in response to receipt of an email message at an email accountwith an email alert microserver.
 30. The method recited in claim 22wherein selectively processing the received telecommunicationinformation with the microserver comprises providing instant-messagingfunctionality over the internal transport medium with aninstant-messenger microserver.
 31. The method recited in claim 22wherein selectively processing the received telecommunicationinformation with the microserver comprises: rendering a display ofweb-page information suitable for presentation with a web-browser devicewith a webserver microserver; and overlaying an advertisement over thedisplay of web-page information with an advertising microserver.
 32. Themethod recited in claim 22 wherein selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information with the microserver comprises providingan interface between wireless communications within the customerpremises to the external transport medium with a wireless microserver.33. The method recited in claim 22 wherein selectively processing thereceived telecommunication information with the microserver comprisesmonitoring an RF power level of the telecommunication informationreceived from the external transport medium with an RF power-levelmicroserver.
 34. The method recited in claim 22 wherein selectivelyprocessing the received telecommunication information with themicroserver comprises providing a customer-based graphical userinterface for implementing configuration changes of software governinghow the received telecommunication information is selectively processed.35. A network interface device comprising: means for isolating atransport medium internal to a customer premises from a transport mediumexternal to the customer premises such that operational changes to oneof the internal and external transport media do not affect the other ofthe internal and external transport media; means for receivingtelecommunication information from the external transport medium; meansfor selectively processing the received telecommunication information,wherein such means for selectively processing is disposed external tothe customer premises; and means for implementing a predeterminedfunction over the internal transport medium with the processedtelecommunication information.
 36. The network interface device recitedin claim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for verifying that thepredetermined function is authorized for the customer premises.
 37. Thenetwork interface device recited in claim 35 wherein the means forselectively processing the received telecommunication informationcomprises means for transferring an electronic file of information to orfrom the network interface device.
 38. The network interface devicerecited in claim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing thereceived telecommunication information comprises means for managing aninternet-protocol address assignment to a device coupled with theinternal transport medium.
 39. The network interface device recited inclaim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for receiving code and forprocessing the code for use by another component of the networkinterface device.
 40. The network interface device recited in claim 35wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for rendering a display ofincoming web-page information suitable for presentation with aweb-browser enabled device.
 41. The network interface device recited inclaim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for initiating an alert inresponse to receipt of an email message at an email account.
 42. Thenetwork interface device recited in claim 35 wherein the means forselectively processing the received telecommunication informationcomprises means for providing instant-messaging functionality over theinternal transport medium.
 43. The network interface device recited inclaim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises: means for rendering a displayof web-page information suitable for presentation with a web-browserdevice; and means for overlaying an advertisement over the display ofweb-page information.
 44. The network interface device recited in claim35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for providing an interfacebetween wireless communications within the customer premises to theexternal transport medium.
 45. The network interface device recited inclaim 35 wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for monitoring an RF powerlevel of the telecommunication information received from the externaltransport medium.
 46. The network interface device recited in claim 35wherein the means for selectively processing the receivedtelecommunication information comprises means for providing acustomer-based graphical user interface for implementing softwarechanges of the means for selectively processing.